January 17, 2010

Too Good

I knew this sweater was flying along too easily to not have some type of issue. I finished the cable, split for the two front pieces and the back, and finally tried the thing on. Does anyone else knit truly tight swatches? As in death-grip tight? Apparently I do.

Luckily for my fingers, I loosen up while knitting. Unfortunately for my Gathered Pullover, I loosened up to the effect of an additional 6 inches. Even Craig admitted it looked completely ridiculous and, as he did not want a pale blue feminine fitted sweater, this

Gathred-Pullover-cable

now is pretty much back to this.

Gathered-Pullover-start-large

minus 30 stiches or so. Ugh.... Honestly, i didn't have the heart to take another picture and just reused the first one.

However, once I realized this would have to be restarted (f@*#!) I decided to take a break. And to make something fun, fortifying, instantly gratifying, and pretty. I made peppermint ice cream.

It's not exactly a recipe, it's more a super quick, super easy adapted blend of The Joy of Cooking and one of the New York Times cookbooks that excludes or lessens ingredients I don't want. So heavy cream is out, egg yolks are out, sugar is low, and I don't add peppermint oil. It's also a great way to use up leftover candy canes after the holiday!

We enjoyed ours with some bittersweet chocolate cookies. I was planning on ice cream sandwiches, but with an entire sweater body to frog and restart my plans changed... Still, this made the whole thing a bit more enjoyable - it's hard to groan around a mouthful of ice cream!

peppermint-ice-cream

Simple Peppermint Ice Cream

2 cups half + half
1 cup milk (any kind is fine, but I usually use 2%)
1/2 cup white sugar
dash of salt
5 or more candy canes; crushed

In a microwave-safe dish (I usually use my Pyrex measuring cup) , heat 1 cup half + half until steaming (don't boil the milk, it's a total mess to clean up if it boils over). Remove and add 1/2 cup sugar and dash of salt, stirring to melt crystals. Add the other 1 cup of half + half (if you have the room, if not add just enough to cool the mix and pour into your ice cream maker reservoir). Add crushed candy canes and mix in. Add final cup of milk and stir to incorporate. Let sit at least a 1/2 to let the peppermint soak into the milk before proceeding according to your machine's instructions.

The ice cream is fantastic. Just creamy and pepperminty and sweet enough without being cloying or overpowering. Since we started making out own ice cream a year ago, I can't really stomach the commercial stuff. It's a bit of a bummer really, but our homemade ice creams are really good.

Quick tip; if you stick the canister in the freezer for an hour or two before placing it in the ice cream maker, it really speeds up the process!

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